Through the Nethergate
Supernatural Fantasy
1st in Series
TSL Publications (September 3, 2019)
Paperback: 214 pages
Synopsis
Margaret, a girl born with second sight, has the unique ability to bring ghosts trapped between Heaven and Hell back to life. When her parents die suddenly, she goes to live with her beloved grandfather, but the cellar of her grandfather’s ancient inn is haunted by an evil spirit of its own.
In the town of Bungay, a black dog wanders the streets, enslaving the ghosts of those who have died unnatural deaths. When Margaret arrives, these phantoms congregate at the inn, hoping she can free them from the clutches of Hugh Bigod, the 12th century ghost who has drawn them away from Heaven’s White Light in his canine guise.
With the help of her grandfather and the spirits she has befriended, Margaret sets out to defeat Hugh Bigod, only to discover he wants to use her for his own ends – to take over Hell itself.
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Guest Post
Margaret’s Hell
One of the recent reviews for Through the Nethergate states the following:
“This is actually a tale about religion and politics (in a good way), the penultimate battle in the garden of good versus evil. Who will win?” – Amazon review
This comment is spot on when it comes to the nature of this story, it is a retelling of the battle for human allegiance and souls between Heaven and Hell in a modern setting. Both deities have access to modern technology to aid their causes, but it is the beautiful Lucifer, who reigns over Hell, who has twisted the concept of the modern global trading platforms which control the wealth of the world to expand his growing empire.
Due to her conservative Catholic upbringing, when Margaret arrives in Hell, she is anticipating a burning inferno along the lines of the nine concentric circles of torment located within the bowels of the earth as depicted in Dante Alighieri’s 14th-century epic poem entitled Divine Comedy. Her concept of the devil is equally old-fashioned, and she imagines Lucifer to be a giant and terrifying beast trapped waist-deep in ice from which he cannot escape. She visualizes him with three faces, each a different colour: the one on the right being a pale yellow, the one in the middle being red and the one on the left being black.
The reality she greets in Through the Nethergate, could not be further from this idea. A depiction of Hell from the book is as follows:
“The entrance to the building was imposing; a high archway built from steel girdles that joined in a sharp point at the peak. Atop the point was a large glass globe that revolved slowly on its axis.
What is this place? Is this Hugh Bigod’s building? There are no guards?
The dog moved boldly through the arch. The globe changed colour, from clear to a deep maroon. Margaret was shoved after him, propelled forward by the henchman. She hesitated on the threshold, gazing at the interior of the huge hall. Her stomach twisted and writhed in shock. It was packed with row after row of cubicles. The walls were high enough to prevent any distracting exchanges or conversations between the occupants of the cubicles. The intense lighting gave the scene a clinical and sterile look, but the cubicles reminded Margaret of the multitude of six-sided cells that make up a honeycomb.
There was no relief from the heat inside the building although it was not moist and oppressive.
What is this place?
Each cubicle had a nametag stating the name of its occupant in black capital letters. They were all equipped with a keyboard, computer, second screen and mouse. The glass walls of the hall were dominated by enormous screens. Each screen showed an outline map and row after row of words and figures moved up the sides of the maps.”
Lucifer is a gorgeous man, the best-looking man Margaret has ever seen. In Through the Nethergate, she describes him as follows:
“He reminded her of the actor Thomas Beaudoin, with his piercing blue eyes, dark hair and strong, stubble covered jaw. There was a darkness about his beauty that scared her. It overlaid and detracted from his good looks. He was human, but yet somehow inhuman. Any kindness or decency in this man had long ago turned to adamantine, heartless cruelty.”
This depiction of Lucifer is intended to introduce to the reader, the idea that evil can take many shapes and forms and is not necessarily found in the most unkempt, ugly and obviously neglected people in our world. Ideas and decisions that negatively impact on humanity are frequently generated in the board rooms of the most wealthy and successful enterprises on this planet, by beautiful and successful people. Evil is spawned by greed and a love of money and power over everything else, including the health and well being of populations.
Hell’s depiction as a building, along the lines of the London Shard, was deliberate in order to uphold this theory of wealth creation at all costs being responsible for many of the ailments that trouble our modern world.
Lucifer is a stockbroker, with an enormous work force of the most horrifically cruel and callous people in history, who are all seeking to expand their power and dominance through their dealing in human souls. The Devil has adapted to technology and uses the dark net and other technological inventions to further his own goals and power.
This is not intended to denounce technology, but rather to illustrate how every advancement by mankind can be used for both good and bad, in equal proportions, depending on the intentions of the user. Readers are made aware of the potential hidden dangers in technology and the ease with which it can be manipulated for negative purposes.
About the Author
‘I am an author who has recently branched into adult horror and supernatural writing and, in order to clearly differential my children’s books from my young adult and adult writing, these will be published under the name Roberta Eaton Cheadle. My first young adult supernatural novel, Through the Nethergate, has recently been published.
I have two short stories in the horror/supernatural genre included in Dark Visions, a collection of 34 short stories by 27 different authors and edited by award-winning author, Dan Alatorre as well as three short stories published in Death Among Us, a collection of murder mystery short stories by 10 different authors and edited by Stephen Bentley. These short stories are published under Robbie Cheadle.
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